Presidents Who Smoke: A Photo History

An unscientific study has proven 61% of all U. S. presidents smoked tobacco or are still smoking it. We have compiled pictures and information from various presidential websites, historical societies and a very helpful article we dug up from an old issue of Cigar Aficionado to discover more presidents than not take part in one of America’s favorite (though fleeting) past times: Smoking.

This shouldn’t come as a suprise. Several presidents of the last century were notorious smokers who lit up constantly in the White House even while regulating tobacco themselves (like Spitzer’s crusade against prostitution,–we’ll get to Clinton in a bit). As the legendary story reveals John F. Kennedy gave orders to Press Secretary Pierre Salinger to round up as many Corona cigars (JFK’s favorite) before signing the Cuban trade embargo. Salinger later reported 1,200 Coronas in his possession. It was not until the Clinton administration when an absolute no-smoking policy was implemented in the White House and Hillary happily removed all the ashtrays from the premises. So where might Barack Obama sneak a smoke? It’s rumored that Willie Nelson fired up on the White House roof when invited to spend a night, though we doubt it was tobacco he was smoking.